Drawer lock



April 14,1959 c. w. JARVI 2,882,112

v LOCK Filed Dec. 4, 1956 I: Quail-Inf:

United States Patent DRAWER LOCK Carl W. Jarvi, Wexford, Pm, assignor toHaskell Manufacturing (20., Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application December 4, 1956, Serial No. 626,190

1 Claim. (Cl. 312--221) This invention relates to furniture, and moreparticularly to furniture in which drawers are locked automatically whenthey are closed.

Any piece of furniture containing an enclosure provided with a drawerwill be referred to herein as containing a cabinet, but the invention isconcerned primarily with oflice desks and file cabinets. As is wellknown, desks and file cabinets are often provided with means for lockingthe drawers automatically when they are closed. For example in an oflicedesk having a center drawer and side drawers, the latter are locked shutwhen the center drawer is closed, and they cannot be opened again untilthe center drawer has been pulled out a short distance to release thelocking mechanism. There are times, however, when it is desirable thatone or more of the side drawers shall not become locked when it isclosed.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a cabinet whichcontains one or more drawers that normally are locked automatically whenthey are closed, which has at least one drawer than can be kept fromlocking when desired, and which includes readily accessible means forrendering the locking means inelfective.

In accordance with this invention, a drawer that is sildably mounted ina cabinet has between its ends a locking surface facing the front end ofthe drawer. Mounted in the cabinet is a locking member that is movableinto engagement with that locking surface to lock the drawer shut, andmeans are provided for moving the locking member away from the lockingsurface to unlock the drawer; Manually positionable means is mounted onthe drawer for holding the locking member out of locking engagement withthe locking surface when desired, whereby to keep the drawer from beinglocked.

The'invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig.1 is a front view of an office desk;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on the lineIIII of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary vertical sections taken on the linesIII-III and IV--IV, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line V---V of Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line VI-VI ofFig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the lock preventer; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modification of theinvention.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, an office desk is shown for thepurpose of illustration. It is presumed to be made of metal, althoughthat is not necessary. It is provided with a shallow center drawer 1that can be locked with a key. The pedestals at the opposite sides ofthe center drawer form cabinets 2, in each of which three drawers 3 areshown in superimposed relation. As will be described, these six cabinetdrawers are locked automatically when the center drawer is closed,whereby locking of the center drawer by a key will lock all of thedrawers of the desk.

In the desk shown, each of the side or cabinet drawers 3 has metalchannels extending along its opposite sides, with the channel webs 5secured thereto as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. The flanges 6 and 7 ofeach channel project laterally away from the drawer and into otherchannels 8 secured to the frame of the desk. The stationary deskchannels therefore form tracks which support the drawer channels andpermit the drawers to slide in and out. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, ashort length of the front end of the top flange 6 of each drawer channelnext to the center drawer is cut away so that the front end 9 of thatflange terminates a little ways behind the front of the drawer. The topflange of the supporting desk channel 8 may be cut back a littlefurther.

Extending across the outside of the webs of the desk channels next tothe center drawer and near the front of the desk is a vertical bar 10provided with vertical slots 11 beside the channels as shown in Fig. 4.Extending through each of the slots is a headed stud 12 that is mountedin the adjoining stationary channel. The heads of the studs engage thebar loosely enough to enable the bar to slide up and down. It is urgedtoward its upper position by a coil spring 13, which may be attached tothe upper stud and to the bar below it. The bar carries three lockingmembers, preferably in the form of hooks 14. Each of the hooks has itsrear end connected to the bar above an adjacent channel by a horizontalpivot .pin 15. The books extend forward and each is urged downward intoinclined position by a wire torsion spring 16 coiled around theadjoining pivot pin and having an upper end hookover the front edge ofthe bar, and a lower end hook over a lateral offset of the hook, seenbest in Fig. 2 Downward pivoting of the hook is limited by itsengagement with a lug17 bent .out of the bar beneath the. hook.

Secured rigidly to the upper end of the bar is a short rod 18 thatextends laterally beneath the adjacent side of the center drawer. Thisdrawer has a cam 19 on its bottom for engaging and pressing the rod downwhen the drawer is closed, as shown in Fig. 3. When the rod is pusheddown in this manner, it pushes the bar downward on studs 12, against theresistance of the coil spring. In the lower position of the bar, shownin Fig. 4, the hooks hook over the front ends 9 of the top flanges 6 ofthe drawer channels. The front ends of those flanges therefore formlocking surfaces, because they prevent the drawers from being pulled outof the desk as long as the hooks engage the flanges. When the centerdrawer is pulled open, the cam 19 is pulled away from the vertical bar,which is then raised by the coil spring to the dotted line position inFig. 4 to lift the books out of engagement with locking surfaces 9. Dueto the pivotal connection of the hooks to the bar, the side drawers canbe closed and locked even when the center drawer is closed and the barhas been depressed. The hooks will be lowered into engagement with theupper flanges 6 of the drawer channels, which will merely slide alongbeneath the hooks until their front ends can swing down in front of thelocking surfaces.

It is a feature of this invention that any one of the drawers can befixed so that it will not be locked when it is closed. For this purpose,manually positionable means are mounted on the drawers for holding thebooks out of locking engagement with the adjoining locking surfaces 9when desired. The manually positionable means may take the form ofstrips of spring metal that are bent to provide straight upper and lowerportions integrally connected at their inner ends. Each of these lockpreventers 20 is inserted between the bottom of a top flange 6 and thetop of a tongue 21 projecting from the drawer channel below the frontportion of the flange. The tongue can be formed conveniently by punchingit out of the web of the channel. The tongue is provided with alongitudinal slot 22, into which extends a lug 23 projecting down fromthe bottom of the lock preventer. The lug and slot connection holds thespring member in place, but allows it to be slid from an inoperativeposition behind, the front end of the top flange to a projectingoperative position in front of it. The tendency of the lock preventer toopen up will press it tightly enough against the flange and tongue tohold it in either of its two positions. Normally the lock preventer isin its retracted position, but when it is desired to keep the drawerfrom locking when it is closed, the lock preventer is pulled forward tothe position shown for the bottom drawer in Fig. 4. In this position itwill prevent the adjoining hook from moving down in front of the lockingsurface 9 far enough to keep that surface from being moved forward.Although the locking surface will strike the hook when the drawer ispulled out, only the top of the hook will be engaged and it will rideover the locking surface and on to the channel on the drawer.

It will be seen that any one or more of the drawers,

may be kept unlocked in this manner without affecting the locking of theremaining drawers or drawer. Since the lock preventers 20 are near thefront of the drawers and on the side next to the center drawer, they arereadily accessible for manipulation by the person sitting at the desk.Whenever he wishes to keep a drawer from being locked, all he has to dois to pull it out a short distance to expose the lock preventer, andthen pull that member forward to its operative position. The drawer thencannot be locked until he again pushes the lock preventer back to itsinoperative position.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, locking of a drawer is prevented bya small U-shaped clip 25, which straddles the top flange of a drawerchannel 26 and engages it tightly enough to stay in place. However, thisclip can be slid forward on the channel by hand far enough to locate itbeneath the front end of the hook that otherwise would swing down acrossthe locking surface 27. The clip therefore prevents locking of thedrawer in the same way as a lock preventer 20. A synthetic plastic hasbeen found to be a satisfactory material for making the clip, as it willgrip the channel flange fairly tightly and yet can be slid along it whendesired.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained theprinciple of my invention and have illustrated and described what I nowconsider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have itunderstood that, within the scope of the appended claim, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated anddescribed.

I claim:

An article of furniture comprising a cabinet, 21 plurality ofsuperimposed drawers slidably mounted therein and each having a lateralflange extending lengthwise of one side of the drawer, each flange beingprovided with a transverse edge facing the front of the drawer, avertical bar slidably mounted in the cabinet beside the drawers forvertical movement, a spring urging the bar upward, hooks pivotallymounted on the bar and projecting forward therefrom, means for movingthe bar downward to hook the front ends of the hooks over said flangeedges to lock the drawers shut, and a manually positionable memberengaging each flange and adapted to be projected in front of itstransverse edge for engagement by the adjacent hook, whereby to preventthat hook from effectively engaging said transverse edge and locking thedrawer when the remaining drawers are locked.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

